Transnational Environmental Activism and the Post-Political Trap: Assessing Toxics Link's Anti-systemic Resistance Potential around E-Waste in India.

In this paper, it is argued that the enthusiasm of the literature on transnational environmental activism about globalization as a new political opportunity structure for anti-systemic social movements is overly optimistic. The emphasis of this body of literature on virtual spaces of resistance, the importance of information dissemination, cross-boundary alliances, global-local linkages and grassroots representation overlooks the fact that the emerging networked forms of environmental governance set out the boundaries for the agency of environmental activists. In short, the multilevel network strategy of environmental movements guides them towards what we call the 'Post-Political Trap': the very structure of the typical multistakeholder governance arrangements prevents radical political action that goes beyond the stakeholders' post-political environmental consensus. This argument is illustrated by the struggle of the Indian Environmental NGO Toxics Link for environmental justice around the recycling of Electronic Waste in India. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]